Healey inspires Rangers' goal feast

Park Rangers...8

" The New Zidane" was the cry from the touchline as Man-of-the-Match Matt Healey inspired a goal feast in this much delayed third round County Cup game. Yeadon's Park Rangers started confidently and played some excellent football in terrible wintry conditions.

The first goal came after 25 minutes when slick inter-play between Grimes and Healey allowed Jackson to cross for Darren Auton to coolly slot into an empty net. This was the signal for Park Rangers to run riot.

The next 15 minutes then belonged to Craig Auton who blasted his way to his third hat-trick of the season to send Rangers into the break four goals to the good.

With the strong wind behind them in the second-half Park Rangers knew that the approach play had to be short and precise.

They did this well and continued to bombard the Sowerby goal time after time. Veteran Andy Cochran's no-nonsense defending snuffed out any Sowerby attack before it began and this in turn allowed Rangers the freedom to conjure up mouth watering exhibition football.

The next two goals were the highlight of the game with speed being the key that unlocked the Sowerby rearguard. Picking the ball up in his own half Healey carved his way through and then out-ran the Sowerby defence to round the 'keeper and tap in Rangers' fifth.

Minutes later an almost carbon copy move allowed Healey to repeat his feat except this time he chipped the advancing 'keeper with precision.

By now it was a case of who would score next. Jackson, feeling a little left out on the right side, switched wings and almost immediately fired in Rangers' seventh, his customary back somersault goal celebrations delighting the onlookers.

The scoring was completed by super sub Stuart Parker who drilled the ball home to round off a superb team display.

Park Rangers are still competing in all cup competitions and are currently riding high in the Premier Division. If the same skill, commitment and determination is shown for the rest of the season silverware will surely follow.

Wharfeside are improving

New Rovers........5

Wharfeside.......0

NOT many teams could lose every week and still battle till the end or train consistently. Otley Wharfeside are different in this respect and deserve to reap the rewards of a year of hard work and surely it cannot be long in coming.

Wharfeside's main problem this season has been that most teams are taller and unfortunately it again proved to be the decisive factor.

Wharfeside went behind early to a simple header in the area. Otley, a few games ago, would have then crumbled to a heavy defeat but as they showed in their final games last year they can play football and held New Rover for most of the first-half, creating a number of chances.

They had a clear penalty appeal turned down. They then went close on a number of occasions with both Bower and Livadas only a toe away from getting the equaliser they deserved. Otley's missed chances proved costly as the home side began to find their rhythm and scored two goals before the end of the half.

With Otley playing down the hill the players had high hopes of getting back into the game but were dealt a huge blow when New Rover scored after little less than a minute after some slack Wharfeside play and an inability to move forward from the kick-off.

To their credit Otley continued to battle for the ball and created some good chances but struggled to make the pressure for prolonged periods.

With Bower moving back into defence there was an increased stability and despite gifting New Rover a number of chances the defence stood up well in a number of tough situations. There were further Wharfeside attempts on goal coming from Mathew Collins, Andrew Bower and best of all Nick Livadas, whose mazey running took him past six players only to have his top corner bound shot saved by the 'keeper.

The Man-of-the-Match was shared between Mark Brear and Craig Wilkinson who both had outstanding games in defence and goal respectively. Many people believe a 'keeper cannot have a good game and let in five but New Rover had over 20 chances and for a goalkeeper to have that ratio is excellent.

The number of tackles put in by Mark Brear was second to none and was invaluable for the team. Otley held a much needed team talk after the game that cleared up a few issues and the general opinion was that they needed to play more as a team.

A note to those absent from the game or training that Otley only had two substitutes due to illness and injury and that meant injured players had to continue.

l Wharfeside are at home on Sunday to league leaders Commercial FC. The match kicks-off at 10.30am at Wharfemeadows Fields and players are expected to meet at 9.00am. They are looking for a lot of supporters to turn up, in particular anyone associated with the club, especially players injured or just not picked.

If you are interested in playing for Otley or playing in an Under-17/18 team the club is considering starting next season contact Joe Whitworth on 07811 006396 or 01943 464194.